Computer program will support a manager
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Tasks in groups are performed best, if people do not poach on each other\'s territories. A tool that can group people to ensure their efficient cooperation has been developed by Dr. Michał Twardochleb from the Department of Computer Science of the West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin.
"With appropriate algorithms, we can assist management decisions. From the entire population, for example, employees of a company, we can select project teams, in which there will be synergies. The tool uses existing algorithms and computer methods that have already been proven in theory, my job is to test them in practice. Test sample are students, which I select according to that key. Preliminary results show that the efficiency of their joint work increases. They spend their time, energy and intellectual potential on the project, and not on fighting for position in the group" - said Dr. Twardochleb.
The researcher uses computer optimisation methods to build the most efficient project teams. As he pointed out, gone are the days of Leonardo da Vinci, who did everything from start to finish himself. Currently, larger projects are carried out by teams. People can always be selected for the teams based on the required hard competencies needed for the project, but the sphere of soft skills remains. Each of us has certain personality traits - someone will be a good leader, someone else has a high level of perfectionism, another person will be best with contacts, yet another - a great organizer, finally someone will bring the team together and focus it on achieving the goal. The idea is to put people with diverse tendencies and traits in one group.
"If we have three born leaders in a small team, they will focus primarily on taking the lead, rather than on pursuing the objective. On the other hand, if we have too many perfectionists, they will be too focused on the details and the work will progress slowly. In contrast, if you can select a team while avoiding duplicating roles, and instead ensuring that each role is present in at least one team member to a high degree, you will then observe the effect of synergy - the additional benefits of joint action, which can be formally represented as 1+1+1+1 > 4" - explained the researcher.
In his view, giving this task to computer software makes sense not only in large corporations, but also in companies that employ more than twenty - thirty people. In smaller populations a manager who knows his staff is able to select teams so that roles do not overlap unnecessarily and that the conflicts do not cause a reduction in efficiency. Choosing the people so that they complement each other is the task of management decision support systems. Dr. Twardochleb noted that the final decision is always taken by the manager who takes into account the proposals that which the system offers for his consideration.
Is it possible to commercialise this solution? The algorithms are not patentable, but the research results can be part of discovered knowledge, know-how. The university can offer this knowledge in the form of commissioned research, expert opinions, services to support the functioning of enterprises, in particular concerning the optimisation of the composition of teams in the organization.
Dr. Twardochleb took an internship focused on the commercialisation of science in the programme Top 500 Innovators. The engineer is convinced that when planning a research project, firstly its so-called impact should be considered, that is the project\'s future real impact on the industry, the economy or society.
PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland, Karolina Duszczyk (Olszewska)
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tr. RL
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